Continental Baking Company

The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became part of the former Hostess Brands company.[1][2]

Continental Baking Company
TypePrivate company
IndustryFood (Bakery)
Founded1849 (1849)
(as Ward Baking Company)
Defunct1995 (1995)
SuccessorInterstate Bakeries Corporation, Hostess Brands
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, U.S.
Key people
Robert Boyd Ward
ProductsBrands including:
Wonder Bread,
Twinkies
Delivery Wagon Automobile with Ward's Tip Top bread advertisement in front of Flatiron building, New York. 1911

History
Robert Ward

In 1849, James Ward and his son, Hugh Ward, who came from Belfast, Ireland, opened a small bakery on Broome Street in New York City. In 1884, Hugh Ward and his son Robert Boyd Ward moved to Allegheny city (now, Pittsburgh) and opened a new bakery there.[3]

The Ward Bread Company was organized by Robert B. Ward in New York, Brooklyn and Newark in 1900. Around 1910, The Ward's Bakeries built two big factories in Bronx, NY (143rd St. and Southern Boulevard) and Brooklyn, NY (Vanderbilt Ave and Pacific Street),[4] which "marks a triumphant return to New York". By November 1911, the company starts to sell their famous "Ward's Tip-top Bread" for 5 & 10 cents loaves.[5]

In 1921, grandson William Ward took over the company and in 1925 renamed it the Continental Baking Company.[6]

Continental Baking acquired the Wagner Baking Company in Detroit, Michigan[7] and other 3 companies at the end of 1924.[8] In 1925 it bought Taggart Baking Company, the maker of Wonder Bread, and became the largest commercial bakery in the United States.[9][10] Twinkie snack cakes were invented in 1930 in Schiller Park, Illinois, by James Alexander Dewar, a baker at Continental Baking Company.

Continental was based in New York from 1923 to 1984.[11] It also had its executive offices in Hoboken, New Jersey.[12] M. Lee Marshall, descendant of John Marshall, was President,[13] later, Chairman, from 1934-1944,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] and director of distribution in the War Food Administration in 1944.[21][22][23][24]

Continental was purchased by ITT in 1968, then sold to Ralston Purina in 1984.[25] It was purchased by Interstate Bakeries Corporation in 1995. The combined company was rebranded Hostess Brands in 2009.[26]

Twinkies were introduced by the Continental Baking Company in 1930.

Hostess Brands (the former Interstate Bakeries Corporation) closed in 2012. During the liquidation process, it again changed its name, to Old HB. An entirely new and separate entity, New HB Acquisition LLC, was established in 2013, 50% owned by HB Holdings, LLC, a venture set up by Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos and Company.[27] New HB Acquisition acquired the brand names and some plants and other assets from Old HB, then renamed itself as Hostess Brands.

References
  1. "The Rich History of Twinkies". New York Times. December 10, 2016.
  2. "Ward Baking Company Historical Site". Ward Baking Company. Archived from the original on 2012-03-21. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
  3. "Chronology of the Ward family and Ward Baking Company (2003)" (PDF). Ward Baking Company.
  4. "The Realty Market, Purchase of 23 Lots at Vanderbilt Avenue and Pacific Street for Wholesale Bakery". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. February 9, 1910. p. 3.
  5. "The Story of An American Business Success". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. November 7, 1911. p. 28.
  6. "Chronology of the Ward family and Ward Baking Company (2003)" (PDF). Ward Baking Company.
  7. "Continental Absorbs the Wagner of Detroit". The New York Times. New York Times. November 27, 1924. p. 31. The Continental Baking Corporation has acquired the Wagner Baking Company of Detroit according to an announcement made yesterday. The Wagner family will continue its interest in the plant in Detroit. H.J.C Wagner yesterday was elected President of the Wagner Baking Company.
  8. "Baking Co. ENTERS MERGE" (PDF). The New York Times. New York Times. December 28, 1924. A.L. Taggart, President of the company, according to MR. Barber, is coming to New York to make his headquarters at the Continental Baking Corporation's offices. In all five companies have been taken over by the Continental. They include the United Bakeries Corporation, the American Bakeries Corporation, the Livingston Baking Company, and the Wagner Baking Company.
  9. Continental Baking Company Factory Buffalo Erie County (PDF) (Report). United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. February 12, 2021. p. 19. Continental Baking Company (CBC) acquired the Taggart Baking Company in 1925, which had begun to sell Wonder Bread a few years prior in 1921.
  10. "Ward Baking Company Historical Site. Continental Baking Company, known for its Hostess and Wonder tradenames, was one of the companies founded as part of the Ward Baking Company business". Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  11. Jackson, K.T.; Keller, L.; Flood, N. (2010). The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300182576. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  12. Antoinette Martin (May 16, 2004). "In the Region/New Jersey; Another Part of Hoboken Is Luring Developers". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  13. "Commercial and Financial Chronicle : July 19, 1930, Vol. 131, No. 3395". FRASER | St. Louis Fed. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  14. "Archive: 1950". Milling & Baking News. August 11, 2020. p. 54. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  15. ". ..Presenting M. Lee Marshall: Swing Nominee for Man of the Month". KC History. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  16. "Continental Baking Corporation v. Higgins, 130 F.2d 164". CaseText. July 24, 1942. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  17. Kelly, Kate (27 October 2021). "Wonder Bread: The Most Famous White Bread". America Comes Alive. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  18. Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee (1931). Prices of Food Products: Hearings Before a Subcommittee ..., 71-3 Pursuant to S. Res. 374 ..., S. Res. 405 ..., S. Res. 407 ..., February 10 ... 19, 1931. United States Congress.
  19. "Continental Baking Co. - Building - Grover Whalen, M. Lee Marshall (President, Continental Baking Co.) signing contract on top of building model". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  20. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (1959). Administered prices. United States Congress.
  21. "Victory Bulletin: Official weekly publication of the Office of War Information-Vol. 4, Number 20 - May 19, 1943 Page 540". Illinois Digital Archives. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  22. "LEE MARSHALL, 66, BAKING EXECUTIVE; Chairman of Continental Corp. Dies--Food Administrator at End of 2d World War". The New York Times. 2 August 1950. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  23. "Warsaw Ghetto Uprising". Snopes.com. 13 August 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  24. "Lee Marshall Merchant Marines WWII". RyeVets.org. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  25. Whitten, D.O.; Whitten, B.E. (1990). Manufacturing: A Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide. Greenwood Press. p. 51. ISBN 9780313251986. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  26. "IBC to Change Name to Hostess Brands, Inc". Reuters. 2009-11-02. Archived from the original on 2009-11-18.
  27. Choi, Candice (June 24, 2013). "Hostess says Twinkies will return to shelves July 15 with wider distribution". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
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